The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-06-22
CLEVELAND AND The G. A. R.
The Position of the Iowa Grand
Army Boys-Gen. Tuttle
Misrepresented.
from the Chicago Tribune

reasons gwen Dy the Grand Army posts In
Iowa for their Endorsement of the Gener-
ais opposition to review of the G.. A. II.
parade by Cleveland. Tuttle is represented
as a swashbuckler who has sought TO at
tract attention to himself by proposing
that e old soldiers should openly insult
Cleveland If the latter should attend the
encampment These are gross falsehoods.
Gen. Tuttle-"Old Tut" as the Iowa
soldiers call him-is known to thou
sands of veterans throughout the
West as modest, brave, cool
headed, plainspoken man-one who would
not under any circumstances propose such
a thing rs offering an insult TO the Presi-
dent. Tatle went to ST. Louis in his ca
pacitya Division Commander of the Grand
Army tor Iowa, and TO his establishment
found that the st. Louis Citizens Commit
tee had made preparations to use the en-
campment to boom Cleveland and give
him starter" for the Presidential cam
paign next year. 1t had actually been ar
ranged 10 have the Cleveland Democratic
clubs of st. Louis parade in the same pro-
cession with the Grand Army and all pass
IN review together before Cleveland Tut
tie Mt once called attention to the rule of the
Grand Army forbidding outsiders, and espe
cially those prominent in politics, to partic-
ipate IN It's proceedings-the rule which was
ABDlltN NlI4NllN III lnt CdSt VI NIL Dlulnt
at the Por land encampment two years ago.
He added that the feeling among the
veterans toward Grover was very bitter.
and if they found themselves dragged into
q partisan demonstration IN honor of
Cleveland he feared some hothead might
openly insult the President. Warned IN
time, however, he and thousands of others
would remain at home, and if the Citizens
Committee persisted In its partisan course,
he predicted the demonstration would
prove n failure.
Nor is II true that Gen. futile said his
feeling or that of the veterans III general
against Cleveland was based on the veto of
the dependent pension bill. Gen. Tut
tie said distinctly 1T was not the veto.
but the language and the manner, that had
aroused SO much indignation among the
soldiers. The veterans could allow
for differences of opinion, but
found no excuse for the elephantine
wit and conemptuous sneers of the veto
message, VIII seemed to regard all old
soldiers as mendcants appearing at the
back door. The members of the Grand
Army all recognized the prerogative of the
President to disapprove legislation,
whether il affected pensions or other mat
tiers, and no special feeling could be
aroused by the expression of antagonistic
Moreover, the veterans differed among
themselves in regard TO the propriety of
the pension bills vetoed last winter, but
they are substantially unanimous in con-
domination of Cleveland. The sneers, and
insults sc tered through 1l9 yetoes Of
private pension bills and piled on top of a
two-years record of preferring the gray to
the blue-tnese were the straws that tested
patience and endurance to the limit.
The manner of General Tuttle's recep-
ton on his return from st. Louis to Des
Moines makes the matter of Grand Army
feeling against Cleveland perfectly plain.
General Given, acting as spokesman for
the Grand Army posts of Des Moines, said
in his address TO General Tuttle at the re-
ception:
AS citizen soldiers we realize the right
TO differ and we do differ, save upon the
issues of the war and those tina: imperil the
standing and credit of the Union soldiers.
We have within our organization men of
all political faiths, and its best energies
have always been devoted to the promo
ton OF those primal virtues which are
the guiding stars of the order. Willy poll
ticians have sought 10 capture the organ
izaticn, but we have persistentlv stood
aloof from party politics. TO that end
we approve with one voice your action
regarding the invitation to Grover Cleve-
land. The invitation of any outside man
would have been forbidden, but especially
of one who had endeavored to depreciate
the high standing and integrity of the
Union soldiers. / voice the sentiment OF
every mau in your post in giving sanction
to your action in this matter. We may diff
fer as TO the right or wrong or the veto; Il
is not that TO which we object, but the
manner in which it was done. 1t was t.
oil 4 of ha IA,
could not discriminate between loyalty anC
disloyalty. nor between the traitors and tbs
brave BOYS who stood belt of blue and
wall of safety around our homes. | neeC
not occupy your time further. The G.. A
II. of Des Moines and of Iowa indorSt
every word you said and your every act IL
this regard.
Here, then, is the reason for Tuttlei
course, and Its approval by the Iowa veter-
ans clearly stated. Even If they had no
differed among themselves regarding pen.
sion bills they could have allowed for an,
antagonistc opinion stated in respectful
language; but they cannot and will not ex.
cuse Cleveland's persistent and willful re.
fusal to discriminate between loyalty anC
dsloyalty, between the traitors and tn,
brave bows who stood belt of blue" in de
tense of the Nation. Thousands upoI
thousands of loyal veterans, serving the
country as faithfully in civil as they did il
military posts, have been designated
offensive partisans" and summarily re.
moved from Office by Grover Cleve-
land solely because they were loyalisti
and Union men, while unrepent-
ant rebels by the hundred anC
thousand have been elevated t
honors and dignities. 1t is, however
not strictly correct to say Cleveland "can.
not discriminate between Loyalty and dis
LOYALTY" He has Disseminated in a mos
odious, indefensible manner, and in al
things has preferred the rebel TO the Unior
soldier. Nothing appears to delight hin
more than to chop off the heads of veter
ans who were MANNED and crippled in tn,
Union service; they have gone down befor
him like wheat before the scythe. Mr.
Cleveland, the old soldiers claim, has ex
hausted the powers and patronage of hi
Office to elevate the gray above the blue; b.
has bent every effort, they affirm, to punisl
all veterans found in office who dare {
cherish the principles for which the
fought on the field; and they charge tina
ne has appointed unpardoned rebels to tn
highest honors of the Government, Will
coarsely deriding the sacrifices of Unio
men and clarifying Calhounism with en-
thusiasm. Is il TO be wondered that loys
x-otarano rafusa "a, ioin n parade i'm hi